Anti-Muslim hate crimes increase in England and Wales

Attacks against Muslims have 'skyrocketed' since murder of Lee Rigby, new study shows

LAST UPDATED AT 15:12 ON Mon 7 Jul 2014

There has been a sharp rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in England and Wales since the murder of soldier Lee Rigby last year, a new study has found.

The report comes less than a month after police revealed that the murder of a Saudi Arabian woman in Colchester could have been religiously motivated because she was wearing an abaya, Al Jazeera reports.

While recent police and government reports show that hate crime incidents in general are decreasing, Muslim are now more likely than any other minority group to be victims of religiously or racially motivated hate crimes.

The study, conducted by Tell MAMA, an organisation which monitors anti-Muslim attacks, and academics at Teeside University, showed that attacks "skyrocketed" after Lee Rigby's murder.

"At this time, many [Muslims] in Britain felt frightened and victimised," the report concluded.

What are the figures?

The study recorded 734 incidents over a ten-month period between 2013 and 2014. These included 23 cases of assault, 13 cases involving extreme violence, 56 attacks on mosques and hundreds of cases of online abuse.

In the weeks after Lee Rigby was murdered, hate crimes against Muslims rose by almost 400 per cent.

Why has there been such an increase?

Researchers claim the murder of Lee Rigby was the initial "trigger" for a surge in anti-Muslim hatred in 2013. The study also confirmed that 40 per cent of attackers had links to far-right anti-Muslim groups such as the English Defence League and Britain First, which are rapidly growing in popularity.

Despite the controversy surrounding the group, Britain First recently became the most popular political group on Facebook, reaching millions of people a week.

This is as example of "cumulative extremism", say researchers, "whereby one form of extremism can feed off and magnify other forms."

Who is being targeted and how?

Women wearing traditional Islamic dress are most likely to be victims of such hate crimes, the study found.

Victims reported being spat at, having their burkas pulled and ripped, having lit cigarettes thrown at them, being verbally abused and physically attacked.

Mosques, madrassas and Muslim community centres were also targeted, with attacks ranging from Islamophobic graffiti to criminal damage and arson.

The research also included hundreds of instances of persistent online abuse.

How should the problem be addressed?

Underreporting remains a significant challenge, say the researchers. The study highlights the need to encourage people to come forward, as only 17 per cent of victims who had contacted the organisation also reported the incident to police

Matthew Feldman, co-author of the report, told Al Jazeera that the figures "highlighted a worrying lack of trust in the police in Muslim communities."

In May, the government issued a revised action plan on hate crime, which outlined ways it would tackle attacks against Muslims. These included the first ever cross-Government working group on anti-Muslim hatred and "regional road shows" which engage with local communities on how to tackle Islamophobia.

"We are making real progress in tackling hate crime, but there is still much to do to confront the hatred and hostility that still exists in our society", said the minister for crime prevention, Norman Baker.

Disqus - noscript

Any increase (or decrease) in anti-Kuffar hate crimes, or is no-one keeping score?

Submitted by Robert Penfold on July 7, 2014 - 4:26pm.

The Key words are "in the weeks after Lee Rigby was murdered" or shall we substitute that for 'after 7/7' - or the desecration of the monument to it today by muslims. Or should we say 'after the last hate speech by Anjem Choudary?' Or should we say after a British muslim fighting for ISIS threatens to hold executions in Trafalgar Square? Anti-Muslim hatred is fuelled, - by Muslims! It's no good focussing on the reaction without also focussing on the cause of the reaction!

Submitted by Truthhurty on July 7, 2014 - 7:15pm.

Hmmm... funny that was the same logic used by 9/11 and 7/7 perpetrators too.

Submitted by Warren Raymond on July 7, 2014 - 7:53pm.

'The Week' should be concerned with anti-kuffar hate crimes committed by Muslims, which are way out of whack. The source for this claptrap must be "Tell Mama" or similar Mohammedan agitprops from the MCB, who use this grievance theatre to advance the Islamic expansion project. Where is the resistance?

Submitted by Porphyrogenitos on July 7, 2014 - 8:02pm.

More scaremongering and playing of victim poker by TellMAMA. Of the 734 self reported cases 599 or 80% are online abuse. This puff piece is utterly disgraceful in how it fails to reveal this or in failing to disclose that TellMAMA are not a reputable organisation as the government pulled their funding because of the manipulation of their data.

Submitted by Feddup on July 7, 2014 - 10:18pm.

Has anybody in Government even once suggested that records of Muslim attacks on British people since the year 2000 should be published. Why not?

Submitted by Chris Sellers on July 8, 2014 - 9:52am.

...time for some balanced reporting of the Moslem problem in this country. The victims (the non-Moslems) are being portrayed as the aggressors - the fact remains that radical Islam has taken a deep hold of, perhaps otherwise, moderate Moslem society in Britain - by a combination of intimidation and indifference.

Until our politicians and police forces engage, in a meaningful way, with the Moslem communities throughout Britain, in order to lay out OUR terms and conditions for OUR continued tolerance of THEM in our midst, there will be little improvement in the situation.

I find it a ghastly affront to be lectured to by our politicians and police forces on how to engage with and understand this social cancer in our midst, when these same violently inclined elements are handled with kid-gloves.

Submitted by HappyNewYear on July 8, 2014 - 10:42am.

no one is keeping a score - they don't care about violence etc against white people - they are only interested in protecting minorities, coloured people, muslims etc - they don't care about the indigenous British people

Submitted by HappyNewYear on July 8, 2014 - 10:45am.

the easiest solution is for muslims to leave the UK in huge numbers - the British people didn't vote for them to be allowed in - so eprhaps its time for them to go back to their villages

Submitted by TK on July 8, 2014 - 11:02am.

Hardly surprising when you look at the wicked, medieval savagery that they practise as a compulsory part of their faith. They are totally alien to Britain, our traditions, customs and way of life and they have no intention of integrating with the indigenous population, hence the muslim ghettos in our cities. They hate the British. That's obvious from the rantings by their fanatical clerics, who urge jihad at every available opportunity and are behind a campaign to infiltrate as many public institutions as they can, thus the attempts to Islamise schools in Birmingham. The Government stands by and does nothing to root out the evil. The only good muslim is one who's back on a plane to an Islamic republic where they are free to kill, maim, arrange marriages, conduct honour killings, debase women, stone them to death if they don't conform or accept genital mutilation, and all the other niceties that go with being a follower of the so-called prophet.

Submitted by tigerlily on July 8, 2014 - 7:16pm.

Tell Mama are somewhat discredited - by 'hate crime' they also mean people getting a bit sarcastic with each other on Twitter eg....

Submitted by Kunle Shiriki on July 10, 2014 - 8:43am.

There is no smoke without fire. All Jazeera should not highlight the effect without pointing to the root cause. When Muslims preach hate regularly in the UK, what do you expect? The kind of indecent speeches Muslims make in the UK are enough to scare some of us who don't live there. It is clear that these guys get their inspiration from some anti-human, and anti-peace demons.